Coupling device intended especially for railroad vehicles



June 27, P939. F. BUGATTI 2,163,826

couPLlNG DEVICE INTENDED ESPECIALLY FOR RAILROAD VEHICLES' Filed Ngv;29, 1935 Patented June 27, 1939 UNITE-D STATES COUPLINGr DVICE INTENDEDESPECIALLY FOR RAILROAD VEHICLES Ettore Bugatti, Molsheim, France`'Application November 29, 1935, Serial No. 52,236

-' In France December 4, 1934 9 Claims.

" In order to join together the elements of articucables, small rods, orequivalent means for pre- `lated'vehicles or the cars of a train, it hasbeen known for along time to make use of accordion f plaited bellows thewidthrof which does not ext`v` ceed thatof a door.V It has already beensuggested to give these bellows a. width corresponding exactly to thesection of the Vehicles that are to be joined together, but when thevehicles are running along a curve, inconveniences arise by flifl-reason of the considerable elongation of this bellows` on the outerside and the contraction on i' theinner side of the curve. Furthermore,the

"plaits of these accordion-shaped structures are disadvantageous fromthe point of view of aeromild dynamjcg 'Another solution that wassuggested consists in replacing theV accordion shaped bellows by a i'belt of an Yelastic material; mounted with an Vinitiall tension so as toensure the continuity of gft-x20 the profile of theY vehicles.l Thestress to which the material is subjected, which is normal when l thevehicles are running along a straight portion of the track, becomesexcessive when the vehicles are running or staying on a curve of smallradius. w25

a device for joining together adjacent vehicles which obviates thedrawbacks above mentioned.

According to the essential feature of the present invention, thisjoining device includes a belt uzvM30 surrounding over a certain lengththe adjacent lends of the vehicles and secured to said vehicles -bymeans of elastic fastenings. According to the invention, the belt may bemade leither of a nonelastic'or little elastic material, or of anelastic material, but associated with means for artilicially limitingits deformation. With a joining device of this kind, the belt remainsapplied against the walls of the Vehicles, .whatever be their relativeangular position, and #i240 it ensures an excellent joint from anaerodynamic point of View, without subjecting the-'material or imaterials of which the belt is made toy an exces- 'sive fatigue. Thenecessary deformations are asi .sumed by the elastic fastenings.Y #4:45

i clude velastic ropes, cables or bands, coil springs, etc., and theyare preferably mounted with a certain initial or preliminarytensioningon the vehicles supposed to be in line with each other. A"M50 V The beltwhich constitutes the main element of the joining device is made of oneor'several -parts It is, for instance, made of leather, ordi-.;narycloth, rubberizedcloth, rubber,` etc. When i it is made of rubberor another material which is ici? 3 5 vn.55 iqiiite-l elastic,f thebeltp is: Vprovided1with ropes,

kThe object of the present invention is to provide Y These elasticfastenings advantageously inventing too considerable an expansionthereof.

If desired, the belt may penetrate into `the body of the vehicles,instead of surrounding therir and, for instance, it may beengagedvbetweer'if 5 two walls of each of thebodies, these walls beingdisposed in adjacent relation very close to each other.

The elastic fastenings are either on the outside of both the vehiclesand the belt, or on the insid`f^10 of both, or again on the inside ofthe belt-and the outside of thev vehicles, or inversely.

The arrangement and the shape of the'elastic fastenings are susceptibleof many modifications# The simplest case is that of individualfasteningm means having each va point of `fixation on the belt and apoint of fixation on the vehicle. Eitheron the belt or on the vehicle,or again on both, a point of fixation can be common to two adjacentfastenings. The whole of the fastenings then" has the aspect of azig-zag shaped line. Several adjoining fastenings may be formed by acable,

a rope, a band, or a spring, passing alternately, in Zig-.Zag fashionfrom the points of fixation on the vehicle to the points of xation onthe'beltif25 Of course, there are other possible arrangements.

In an embodiment of the invention, the connection between they belt andone vehicle is ensured by one or `several elastic elements, such ascables,l ropes, bands, springs, etc., xed at both ends and passingfreely over guides, such as pulleys, -alternately carried by the beltand the vehicle;y the pulleys or equivalent means are rigidly orelas-Atically connected to the belt or the vehicle.f The pulleys may be fixedeither directly to the body o'i' 35 the vehicle or to a frame fixed tosaid body. In some cases, they are supported by connecting rods or thelike themselves iixed either'tozthe belt or to the vehicle.

If desired,'the ring consists of two annular, e1e" 40' ments themselvesattached together as above explained. In particular, the two vehicles to.be coupled together may be `each provided with a joining belt and .thetwo adjoining belts of the, vehicles are rigidly secured to each other,or :possibly, they may be attached elastically, ,for in*- stance asabove explained.

Other features of the present inventionshall Y result from the followingdetaled'description of`V 50 some specific embodiments thereof,reference'being. had to the accompanying drawing, given merely by way ofexample and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatical View with parts broken away,showing two coupled car-'55 bodies having a joining belt in accordancewith one embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view showing two coupled car bodieshaving a joining belt which is attached thereto according to anotherembodiment of my invention.

Fig. 3 shows at an enlarged scale and in axial cross section atensioning device as used in the embodiment of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown the adjacent ends of two car bodies I,2 which are connected to each other through a coupling memberconventionally indicated at 3. Positioned. to overlap the adjacent endsof the car bodies so as to lie substantially iiush with the outersurfaces of the same, is a flexible belt or like structure l which ismade for instance of a non-elastic or little elastic material. The belt4 is attached to each of the car bodies I and 2 through similar devicesso that it will be suiiicient to describe its connection with one of thecar bodies.

Around the periphery of each car body adjacent the end faces 5l, 52 ofthe same are located rows of supports or guiding elements, such asrings, hooks, buttons or the like; considering for instance the car bodyl, the supports or guiding elements in the corresponding row are shownat 5; another row of like supports or guiding elements 3 is likewiselocated around the periphery of the belt Il adjacent its edge. The rowsof supports or guiding elements 5 and 6 may be substantially parallelwith each other as shown.

For providing a permanent connection, in use, between the belt 4 and thecar body l, at least one length of flexible resilient or resilientlytensioned material is passed in zig-zag fashion from a support 5 on thecar body I toy a support on the belt and vice Versa. In the example Fig.1, I have shown an upper elastic cord or like element 'l which isfastened at one end thereof, for instance to the car body I at 8, andthen runs in zig-Zag fashion, passing on a support 6 on the belt 4 thenon a support 5 on the Acar body I and so on, and is nally fastenedthrough its other end, for instance to the car body I. at 9. I have alsoshown another similar elastic element Ill, fastened at II to the carbody I, then passing in zig-zag fashion from supports 6 to supports 5and vice-versa along one side of the car body; from the uppermostsupport 6' on the belt 4, the element I extends over the arched upperportion of the car body, substantially in a vertical transverse plane,then is again disposed in zig-zag fashion along the rear face of the carbody and is finally fastened at I2.

Furthermore, I have shown a thirdelongated element I3, the ends of whichare fastened for instance to the car body I at 53, 55 and which isdisposed in Zig-zag fashion between supports 5 and 6 on both sides ofthe car body; one or more of the supports may be a pulley or likeguiding element, one of which is shown at I Il pulley I d, as best shownon Fig. 3, is pivotally mounted on a rod d5 which is slidably carried ina casing 5'? and is urged by a spring 46 within the casing; the latteris shown on Fig. 1 attached to the car body I. It will be understoodthat the structure shown on Fig. 3 forms a resilient tensioning devicefor element I3.

In the example of Fig. 1, where it is assumed that the belt does notcover the lower flat surfaces of the car bodies, the element I3 passessubstantially in straight line from side pulleys or like supports I5, I6to adjacent pulleys, I1, I8 pivotally carried on the lower surface ofcar body I by stationary pins I9, 20 or the like, and thence passes overa further pulley 2l which is located substantially centrally below thecar body I; the pulley 2l is pivoted in a floating strap 22 and a spring23 connects the strap 22 with an anchorage 24 on the car body lowersurface; hence a further resilient tensioning device is provided forelement I3.

It will be readily appreciated that while the element I3 may be made ofa resilient material like elements 1 and I0, it may also be made of aflexible, non-resilient or unstretchable material, since resiliency maybe provided for solely by the tensioning devices.

In the modification of Fig. 2, I have shown car bodies 25, 26 which oneach side, adjacent their end faces 21, 28, have two closely adjacentwalls; since on both sides, both car bodies are similarly constructed,it will be sufficient to describe the construction for one of them. Thebelt 29 has its edges projecting between the closely adjacent walls suchas shown at 30, 3| for the car body 25. Carried by the belt 29 along theedge 32 thereof, is a row of pulleys such as 33, mounted for rotationabout an axis at right angles to the belt. A similar row of pulleys suchas 34 is likewise provided for rotation about axes at right angles tothe belt, on the car body 25; pulley 34 has been shown as carried by afurther wall 35 which encloses and shelters the various pulleys and the;

flexible element to be described later on. Carried by the car body 25,is a further row of pulleys mounted for rotation about axes at rightangles to those of pulleys 33, 35; such an additional pulley is shown at36 as being supported from the wall 35. It should be understood that thethree rows of pulleys are located substantially parallelly with eachother around the periphery of the car body adjacent its end face, as hasbeen described with reference to Fig. 1. It is further seen that thewall 35 forms together with the wall 30, a recess wherein the variouspulleys are enclosed and sheltered.

Flexible elements such as 3l pass over the various pulleys, as shown, soas to form loops in plane view and zig-zag lines in elevation view inlike manner to element 1 on Fig. 1. As previously described withreference to Fig. 1, the flexible element 31 may be resilient or it maybe nonresilient; in the latter case, resiliency is provided for byresilient tensioning devices such as described with reference to Fig. l;in the showing, it has been assumed that pulley 34 is supported from thewall 35 through a resilient tensioning device 38 of the type illustratedby Fig. 3.

Obviously, Figs. 1 to 3 merely illustrate particular embodiments of thisinvention but the latter is not limited thereto.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosedseveral practical and elicient embodiments of the present invention, itshould be well understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto asthere might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form ofthe parts without departing from the principle of the 1 presentinvention as comprehended within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a train of at least two railway vehicles coupled together, adevice for joining with each other the adjacent respective ends of saidvehicles which comprises, in combination, aflexible belt extending fromone end of one vehicle to the adjacent end of the other vehicle alongtheir peripheries and substantially flush with the gen -Jcated Aaroundthe periphery of :the same, adjaicent Vthe :edges thereof, and at least"one vcable 'passingin a slidable manner about said elements v;so as topass in .Zig-zag manner from one prorjecting element vof the belt 'to ia:projecting ele- 'Inent .'ofrone'vehicle end and vice versa, 'over at:least a Aportion ofthe vperiphery `of said belt, said 'cable vhavin.cfeach of fits rends attached to either the corresponding vehicle iorthe-belt, whereby the edges of the belt are kept along theperipheriesl'of vthecorresponding vehicles despite relative movements ofsaid vehicles with respect to each other.

2. In a train of at least two railway vehicles coupled together, adevice for joining with each other the adjacent respective ends of saidvehicles which comprises, in combination, a flexible belt extending fromone end of one vehicle to the adjacent end of the other vehicle alongtheir peripheries and substantially fluish with the general outlines ofsaid vehicles, a plurality of pulleys carried by the belt and saidrespective ends of the vehicles respectively, located around theperiphery of the same, adjacent the edges thereof, and at least onecable passing in a slidable manner about said pulleys so as to extend ina zigzag manner from one pulley of the belt to a pulley of one vehicleend and vice-versa, over at least a portion of the periphery of saidbelt, said cable having each of its ends attached to either thecorresponding vehicle or the belt, whereby the edges of the belt arekept along the peripheries of the corresponding vehicles despiterelative movements of said vehicles with respect to each other.

3. In a train of at least two railway vehicles coupled together, adevice for joining with each other the adjacent respective ends of saidvehicles which comprises, in combination, a ilexible belt extending fromone end of one vehicle to the adjacent end of the other vehicle alongtheir peripheries and substantially ush with the general outlines ofsaid vehicles, a plurality of pulleys carried by the belt and saidrespective ends of the vehicles respectively, located around theperiphery of the same, adjacent the edges thereof, at least one cablepassing in a slidable manner about said pulleys so as to extend in azig-Zag manner from one pulley of the belt to a pulley of one vehicleend and vice-versa, over at least a portion of the periphery of saidbelt, said cable having each of its ends attached to either thecorresponding vehicle or the belt, and elastic means connected with thecorresponding vehicle, for stretching said cable, whereby the edges ofthe belt are kept along the peripheries of the corresponding vehiclesdespite relative movements of said vehicles with -respect to each other.

4. In a train of at least two vehicles coupled together, the combinationof a flexible belt adapted to form an arched passage extending from oneof the adjacent ends of the vehicles to the other of the adjacent ends,a row of guiding elements carried by the belt located around theperiphery of the same adjacent the edge thereof, another row of guidingelements carried by a vehicle end located around the periphery of thesame adjacent the edge thereof, a length of ilexible material mounted inslidable engagement with the guiding elements and running in a zigzagfashion from a guiding element on the vehi'clefend toza guidingelem'entfon .the `belt and vce iversa, said length having :each .of its ends-attachedto Seither .the .corresponding vehicle `or Vthe belt, and.elastic means vconnected with the corresponding vehicle, operativelyengaging the `:length of flexible material, lfor tensioning said lengthof `flexible material.

5. In atrain of 'at least two vehicles coupled Htogether, Ia device forjoining with .each other the-'adjacentrespective ends of the vehicleswhich comprises, in combinatioma flexible belt extending from one vendof one vehicle to the-'adjacent end of the other vehicle `along theirperipheries, a :plurality :of guiding .elements kcarried by the belt andthe ends of the vehicles, respectively, located around the periphery ofthe same, adjacent the edges thereof, and at least one length of exibleelastic material mounted in slidable engagement with said guidingelements and disposed in zig-zag fashion so as to pass from one guidingelement of the belt to a guiding element of one vehicle end andvice-versa, over at least a portion of the periphery of the belt, saidlength having each of its ends attached to either the correspondingvehicle or the belt.

6. In a train of at least two vehicles coupled' together, a device forjoining with each other the adjacent respective ends of the vehicles,which comprises, in combination, a flexible belt extending from one endof one vehicle to the adjacent end of the other vehiclevalong theirperipheries, a plurality of guiding elements carried by the belt and theends of the vehicles, respectively, located around the periphery of thesame, adjacent the edges thereof, and at least one length of elasticallystretchable material mounted under tension in slidable engagement withsaid guiding elements and disposed in a zig-zag fashion, so as to passfrom one guiding element of the belt to a guiding element of one vehicleend and vice versa, over at least a portion of the periphery of thebelt, said length having each of its ends attached to either thecorresponding vehicle or the belt.

7. In a train of at least two vehicles coupled together, the combinationof a flexible belt adapted to form an arched passage extending from oneof the adjacent ends of the vehicles to the other end, a row of supportsprovided on the belt, located around the periphery of the same, adjacentan edge thereof, another row of supports provided on that vehicle endwhich is adjacent to said edge of the belt, said second row of supportsbeing located around the periphery of said vehicle end, adjacent theedge thereof, and means, including an elongated ilexible connectionrunning from the belt to said vehicle end and vice versa in a zig-zagfashion and having each of its ends attached to either the last namedvehicle end or the belt, for connecting elastically the two rows ofsupports together.

8. In a train of at least two vehicles coupled together, the combinationof a flexible belt adapted to form an arched passage extending from oneof the adjacent ends of the vehicle to-the other end, a row of supportsprovided on the belt, located around the periphery of the same, adjacentan edge thereof, another row of supports provided on that vehicle endwhich is adjacent to said edge of the belt, said second row of supportsbeing located around the periphery of said vehicle end, adjacent theedge thereof, guiding elements carried by said supports, at least one ofsaid guiding elements being carried elastically by the correspondingsupport, and a length of exible material mounted in slidable engagementWith said guiding elements and running in a zig- Zag fashion from aguiding element on the Vehicle end to a guiding element on the belt andvice versa, said length having each of its ends attached to either thevehicle end or the belt.

9. In a train of at least two vehicles coupled together having adjacentdouble-Walled body ends forming opposite recesses, the combination of aflexible belt extending from one recess to the other recess, having itsopposite ends housed in said recesses, a row of supports provided on oneof the vehicles within the corresponding recess, located around theinner periphery of said Vehicle, adjacent the edge thereof, another rowof supports provided on the belt adjacent the edge thereof Which liesadjacent said recess, the second roW of supports being located aroundthe periphery of the belt, and means, including an elongated flexibleconnection running from the belt to the last named vehicle and viceversa in a zig-Zag fashion, for connecting elastically the two rows ofsupports together, said connection having each of its ends attached toeither the last named vehicle or the belt.

ETTORE BUGATTI.

